More women will join armed forces in future: Manohar Parrikar

In the coming years, the armed forces will see larger participation of women, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar shakes hands with NCC cadets who successfully scaled Mt Everest, during a meeting in South Block, in New Delhi on Tuesday.(PTI)

In the coming years, more women would join armed forces, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Tuesday.

“This is just the beginning. Slowly, women in large numbers will be part of the armed forces,” Parrikar told reporters in New Delhi.

He said this at an event where he felicitated the first ever all-girls National Cadet Corps (NCC) team which had climbed the Mount Everest.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar pose for a group photo with NCC cadets and officers.
(PTI)

Flying Cadet Avani Chaturvedi, along with Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh, will enter the history books this Saturday, by becoming the first three women cadets to be inducted into fighter aircraft squadron.

They will go to Bidar this month for their stage-III training for a year on Hawk advanced jet trainers, before they get to fly supersonic warplanes.

Six women cadets were competing to become fighter pilots after the government, in a landmark move, approved an IAF plan in October to induct them as fighter pilots.

However, only three trainees were selected for the fighter stream.

Everest expedition

The NCC Girls Mount Everest Expedition Team had scaled the world’s highest peak on May 21 and 22.

Parrikar said the NCC has been asked to encourage the girl cadets to take up such activities.

“This is just the beginning. Many more girls will undertake such expeditions,” he said.

They scaled the peak after dividing themselves into two teams, where the first team led by the Expedition Team Leader Col Gaurav Karki, reached the summit on May 21 and the second team led by Lt Col Vishal Alhawat reached the top on May 22.

This is the first ever successful expedition by the NCC Girls Team. All ten girl cadets of the expedition team are between the age group of 17 and 21 years.